Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Linaru on August 17, 2016, 04:13:50 pm
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Hello peeps,
in the past i have had so much really useful help from you all when working on a project, i love seeing the little improved versions of my work and find it really helpful for improving my skills. so i m back again with a new project ^-^
I wanted to practise animating a character sprite, animations being one of my weak-points, but before i can do that i need a character to animate.
I decided i Would try my hand at a ninja-ish styled Fennec fox that i have named 'Fai':
(http://i.imgur.com/JbiJzDI.png)
as an extra challenge i was trying to limit my colours so i decided to try an aim for something Mega drive/Genesis styled, limiting my self to less that 15 colours, and based the shading style on sonic.. going for a rounder highlight
Originally i was trying to make the body fur blending into some fur coloured trousers, as though they were joined but detail kept merging with the digitigrade legs..
i Feel the character needs more clothing to compliment the scarf but with the limited colours and the scale i couldn't get anything to look right.
I could really use some opinions on how to improve the character, a second set of eyes would be a huge help as i am now just seeing a blur of orangey colours.
And thanks in advance for any help.
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I think your fox looks quite good!
Some clothes seem like a good idea (if you want them that is)
One of the colors you use for the skin/fur isn't really needed and with one color more and by using
the eye color you might be able to make something that looks good.
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(http://i.imgur.com/JbiJzDI.png)
Bear in mind that this is entirely freeballing based on my personal design preferences.
I'm thinking maybe something kind of like a Golf Cap http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-17159114447480/cleveland-golf-driver-cap-2.jpg
a pair of thick work gloves http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzI1WDM2OQ==/z/I~8AAOSw91NTrn57/$_1.JPG?set_id=8800005007
And a pair of boots, to give the character kind of a working-man aesthetic.
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Well i am not sure on the hat, as the character is a fennec fox, with large ears i feel there is enough detail on the head.
I am now considering some kind of open jacket but i m struggling to get it to look right, i think the arms and hands need reworking.
I am not sure i want cover the chest to belly area as i really like how the gradient of fur has come out, an open jacket doesn't cover that, however it does make it hard to add any kind of leggings or shorts.
i also tried drawing some shoes, but again i think the feet area will have enough detail, with the style of legs.
i have been playing a little with the colours, originally the light fur and orange fur where meant to be separate colours but as i added shades they became close.. i tried separating them out to n orange-er fur and a whiter belly and tail fluff, but i didn't like how it came out.
i am still struggling to get the ears hands and legs to look right, something is off about them.
Edit:
This is my attempt to add a bit more clothing and improve the paws and arms:
(http://i.imgur.com/LD7pUnz.png)
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Following up i have begun trying to work out the poses for the character running, i loosely based this on on sonics arms behind him running sprites, but i'm not happy with it yet..
(http://i.imgur.com/sy9TTC9.png)
i have moved the legs several times.
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I like the character and the execution. :y:
As for the last pose, it doesn't look like he's running at all,the body should be leaning dramatically forward, specially if he runs so fast he can't handles his own arms :p It imediatly reminded me of naruto, and a quick serach gave me back this fan art to illustrate what I mean:
Here (http://daisyanimeluvr.deviantart.com/art/Naruto-Running-cleanedncool-58273818)
Keep up!
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I think his right leg got thinner.
or maybe it's just my mind
And it seems like he's preparing to jump, not to run.
Try to draw his left light straight back.
Something like this:
(http://i.imgur.com/Ix1r9Ty.png)
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Following your advice i tried swapping to that style of pose, it looks a little more ninja like than what i was going for.
i also lowered the arm behind as i felt it was bent a little too high
(http://i.imgur.com/MxckTGb.png)
also trying out a mouth.. not sure on it tough.
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Great!
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Yeah, definitely better.
Now he seems to be running.
Just one thing that's still bothering me. I miss the fur on the legs.
When you animate the run it would be very nice to see the fur swinging.
p.s. I don't think it's necessary, but I think it would be nice. I just imaginated it.
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(http://i.imgur.com/2H2pZZj.png)
(left is unaltered)
Maybe I'm a bit late with this. The only thing I changed is the ears. The different heights they have right now make the head look tilted. I personally prefer both ears low, but both could work I think. I also smoothed the forehead a bit, as the angle it made looked wierd to me. I also can't read the viewer-facing ear much. I don't know how it's oriented.
As for the running, you can scale back the ninja by bringing its right arm to the front, and bending it. The left arm would be somewhere in a backwards swing. It'd pretty much turn into a regular run by that point though.
If you're actually making the entire run cycle right now as I understand it it's best to focus on general shapes first and detail later.
Also, you have a stray blue pixel on the tail of the standing sprite.
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Took me a while to get back on this, but I did a quick sketch of what I meant so you can see what I was on about with the outfit.
(http://imgur.com/6VdlqMF.png)
As for crits, looks like Batelite beat me to most of what I was going to say.
The scarf might need some reworking though, while I was drawing this stuff I noticed it's a bit hard to tell apart from the jacket, and the scarf trail looks too shiny with those highlights. I'd say try to smooth out the colors more, like so:
(http://imgur.com/sBOP7RY.png)
EDIT: re-posted the hat-and-boots edit based on the scarf edit.
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Thanks for all the advice.
change our minds on your idea of the news boy cap, as adding it does seem to counter the 'sinobu' ish look it was giving off. however we did not add boots , i steel feel with the digit legs there is more than enough detail and the boots will just make it look cluttered.
with the hat, i lowered the ear positions.. to make it seem as tough they are more pushed apart, i also reworked them a little bit
(http://i.imgur.com/LotkkRU.png)
However with regards to lowering the shading on the scarf i am not so sure, the more rounded and shiny style seems right for the mega-drive esk look i was aiming for, the problem i think is the hat and shirt do not have enough shades, this is the result of me trying to limit myself to 15 colours, the characters 2 tones of fur take up a lot of the colours and i am not sure yet how to adjust them without losing the unique look of the fun, i have become quite fond of the way the light fur almost blends with the darker..
also fixed the blue pixel on the tail, i had attempted drawing a sword in an earlier version.. did not like it and removed it .. missed a pixel
as for the animation. i believe the character is going to have 2 running animations one for a lower speed, and one for when they are going fast, the leaned forward arms back pose works well for the faster run, so the slower run would likely have moving arms..
i am still thinking about how to space them out.. animating sprites is not my strong point
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Aaaah, yeah I see what you mean now! Yeah, if you're going for megadrive looks the shiny scarf works.
Not all the sprites had that effect going on but the high contrast on the colors certainly made it common.
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Okay, i spent some time playing with he colours, am now using the shading from the light fur to highlight the dark fur, tweaked their colour a bit, this freed up some room for another colour which i used to improve the hat.. jacket still seems a little flat , but there is no much i can do about that
(http://i.imgur.com/UqDhuo1.png)
how does it look ?
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At some point his doggy like legs became less diggity doggity..
(http://i.imgur.com/djT0htJ.png)
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Cute character :)
Some quick thoughts.
Although this might not be the direction you choose to go with.
(http://i.imgur.com/afbo7Ic.gif)
I did not bother with the colors here, just the ideas.
I think the the biggest problem with the sprite is the rather squiggly looking anatomy and rendering.
That also ends up reinforcing the irregular lighting of the sprite.
I think it would be helpful to simplify the sprite a little. Think of it as building a brick wall, you start at ground level and keep adding rows of bricks.
Start with simple shapes, think of light source and then try to imagine how light falling on them would look.
Then slowly add texture, etc.
Also, the pose looks very "stiff" and unnatural. I would advise looking at human figures in action and observe how they look.
Even standing people have gesture and curves in them, try to observe!
Good luck, waiting for more progress!
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Thanks for your suggestions so far
I have tidyed up the sprite and adjusted the legs on the running pose.
now i am starting to play around with animating it, this is something i have little experience with.
(http://i.imgur.com/fG2s0kf.png)
looking at the sprites to sonic 3 i noticed that the characters have a slight head turn effect, their heads move left and right as they run.
so i started trying to replicate that effect on my sprite (tough still in the standing pose) i cant really figure out how to get from the standing to running pose.
(http://i.imgur.com/YREGX6k.gif)
this was my attempt
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If this is for a game yoy might be able to get away with no transition between stand and run. For ideas though, i like to start with a sort of almost-dive on the torso to kick off the momentum. Am on my phone so i can't illustrate this idea, but think of it like the character lunging to grab something then breaking into a run.